So-called cable harnesses are used in known techniques to connect electrical loads of a motor vehicle, which may be a passenger car or a heavy goods vehicle, to a battery which is present in the said motor vehicle as a voltage source. In cable harnesses of this type, a more or less large number of electrical lines are combined to form one unit. The lines may be of different lengths depending on the size of the distances to be covered between the battery and/or the controller on the one hand and the loads on the other. The greater the number of loads to be connected, the more complex are the cable harnesses and, correspondingly, installation. For the sake of simplicity, the word “car” is used in place of the word “motor vehicle” in the following text.
Loads in a car include, for example, the incandescent bulbs in headlamps and rear lights, motors for adjusting the mirrors, for opening and closing windows, and for seat—adjustment systems, seat heaters, a steering-wheel heating system, lamps on the dashboard and the number plates, and sensors and controllers. No particular problems arise provided that the loads are mounted on or in the body of a car. This is not the case when the loads are located on or in a moving part of the car. In this case, “moving parts” are all of the doors of the car, but especially particularly a door which is designed as a tailgate. For the sake of simplicity, the word “door” is used in place of the word “moving part” in the text which follows. Each door is connected to the body of the car such that it can pivot about an axis of rotation. The lines which lead to the loads which are provided on or in the door are bent to and fro each time the door moves. They are thus permanently mechanically loaded and can therefore be easily damaged.
The abstract of JP 08048146 A discloses an arrangement for a car, in which a cable harness is divided into two separate parts. A moving connection is located between the two parts and, between the body and a door of the car, contains a helically wound cable harness within a folding bellows. The two ends of this cable harness end in plug connectors, to each of which a part of the cable harness of the car is connected.
In the known arrangement according to US 2002/112320 A1 which was mentioned in the introduction, the cable harness is likewise divided into two parts, one of which is provided on the body of a car and the other of which is provided on a door of the said car. A cable harness is present within a hinge of this arrangement and runs in the region of the axis of rotation of the hinge within a tube parallel to the said axis of rotation. The two ends of the lines of this cable harness are connected to contact elements of plug connectors which are designed as pins and are fixed in the hinge itself. Mating contacts, which are provided at the ends of the two parts of the cable harness, can be plugged onto the contact elements.